God Demands Obedience: When We Obey God, We Can Be Sure He Will Keep His Promises

By Brenda M. Puckett and James Puckett Sr.

 

The Bible is also full of the promises of God, but they are all based on conditions. Those conditions are whether we obey His Word or disobey His Word. If we obey and do what He has told us to do, we receive His promises. Likewise, if we disobey and refuse to do what He has told us, then we don't get to enjoy His promises. We l

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Book Publishing Solutions
• Release date: Jan 9, 2024
• ISBN: 9798869114600

Book preview

God Demands Obedience

When We Obey God, We Can Be Sure He Will Keep His Promises.

Brenda M. Puckett

with James E. Puckett Sr.

Copyright © 2024 James E. Puckett Sr

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Printed in the United States of America

Dedication

I, Brenda, dedicate this book to my mother, who is in Heaven. She always taught me not to take shortcuts in life, but to do what was right. Most importantly, she always taught me the importance of obedience in my walk with God. I, James, also dedicate this book to my mother and father who are both in Heaven. They demanded obedience in the home and taught me the importance of obeying righteous authority at all levels, especially godly authority.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter I Rewards of Obeying God

Chapter II Disobedience is of The Flesh

Chapter III Disobedience and the Heart

Chapter IV God Should Have Confidence in Our Obedience

Chapter V Disobedience Leads to Deception

Chapter VI Our Blessings are a Result of

Our Obedience

Chapter VII Be Quick to Obey God

Chapter VIII Obedience Brings Prosperity

Chapter IX Obedience Requires Focus

Chapter X Humbleness Leads to Obedience

Chapter XI Obedience Prevents Us from Becoming Spiritually Hungry

Conclusion

About the Authors

Introduction

As we discuss the subject of obedience and its meaning, it brings back many memories of all the times in both of our lives when we were disobedient both as a married couple and in our individual lives. But even looking back at our childhood days, we remember how our parents demanded obedience from us. For this book, we will be using the King James Version (KJV) of Scripture for all quotes unless otherwise noted.

We are sure that you too can recall times when you as a child did not obey your parents, teacher, or some other authority figure. No child growing up wants to be labeled as disobedient. Moreover, the Bible clearly states what will happen when children don’t honor and obey their parents (Ephesians 6:1; Colossians 3:20).

You might be asking, Why is obedience so important? We believe it's important because our lives can be summed up in one of two ways: either as obeying what we are told to do or doing what we want to do. When we say, obeying what we are told to do, we are talking about what the Word of God has instructed us to do and the leading and instruction of the Holy Spirit.

Furthermore, the Bible has a lot to say about obedience. In the New Testament, the word obedience appears twelve times. The word obedient appears eight times in the Old Testament and eight times in the New Testament. The word obey appears forty-three times in the Old Testament and twenty-six times in the New Testament. Likewise, the word obeyed appears thirty-four times in the Old Testament and seven times in the New Testament. Clearly, the Bible has much to say about obedience. Let’s discuss some examples.

The Bible instructs children to obey their parents (Ephesians 6:1; Colossians 3:20). It instructs Christians to obey those that have rule over us (Hebrews 13:17). In Ephesian 5:21, husbands and wives are instructed to submit to each other. In Ephesian 5:22, the wife is told to submit herself unto her husband, and in Ephesians 6:5, those who serve are instructed to obey those who are master of or have authority over them. Even though the word submit is used at times, it has the same meaning as the word obey. We understand that some of these things can be difficult to talk about, but it is vitally important that we do. We will expand more on these Scriptures later in the book.

The Bible is also full of the promises of God, but they are all based on conditions. Those conditions are whether we obey His Word or disobey His Word. If we obey and do what He has told us to do, we receive His promises. Likewise, if we disobey and refuse to do what He has told us, then we don’t get to enjoy His promises.

Whenever obedience is discussed, it is hard not to talk about disobedience. Disobedience is the opposite of obedience. In this book, we will place our attention on obedience because that’s what we desire to be. No one wants to be known as a disobedient person. Being labeled as disobedient is like having Rebellious tattooed on your forehead.

One place that demands obedience is the military. We both served, so we understand what a command is and what it requires of the person to whom the command is issued. When we were commanded to carry out a task, we had better do it, or else. We had an option to either do what we were told or to disobey. If we did it, then there was no punishment. If we didn’t do it, then there was punishment.

Likewise, God’s commands are not optional. If they were, they would not be called commands. In the military, commands were not suggestions: if we felt like it, if we wanted to, or if we had time. No! It meant we did what we were told or suffered the consequences. It's no different when it comes to God’s commands. The Bible is a book filled with commands from God. His commands are not to be replaced with our way of thinking, and our way of thinking is not a substitute for the Word of God. Look at Isaiah:

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:7-9).

Obedience is for every person. No one is exempt from obeying something or someone. Obedience makes up the majority of our lives. Now that we have a better understanding of the importance of obedience, it is equally as important to understand what obedience means. In the New Strong's Complete Dictionary of Bible Words, the English word obedience is Nawkay (5218) or Nawkaw (5217) in Hebrew. From those Hebrew words, we get the definition afflicted, broken, stricken, and wounded. We find these words in Isaiah 53, where Isaiah is prophesying about how Jesus would one day obey His Father and submit His life as a ransom for humanity.

Likewise, the Greek word for obedience is Hupakoe, which comes from the word Hupakouo, which means: to listen attentively; to heed or conform to a command or authority; and to hearken, be obedient to, and obey. As used in Hebrews 5:9, the Greek word translates to submit, obey, and be obedient to God. We also see this same Greek word used in the book of Romans. It says, For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous (Romans 5:19). This verse speaks directly to Jesus’ obedience, offering His life so that you and I could be saved.

As we can see, the words obedience, obedient, obey, and submit have intertwined meanings. They fit together like hand and glove. As you can imagine, we cannot cover everything that the Bible has to say about the subject of obedience. However, our hope is that after reading this book, you will realize how important obedience is to God and the benefits you can gain from it.

We have experienced the rewards of obeying God as well as the consequences of disobeying God both as individuals and as husband and wife. We can truly testify that the Scripture is correct when it says, We ought to obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29). As we share some of our personal stories as well as stories from the Bible to support our stance on obedience to God and to His Word, we hope that you will begin to live according to God's Word rather than trying to do it yourself. Maybe there are things that you need to stop trying to do your way and start submitting yourself to God’s way instead.